There are many forms of musical technology one that is widely used is SoundCloud. Streaming has become the main source for listening to music. SoundCloud is a software that allows music to be streamed all around the world. It is a platform that holds many songs in one place and then allows users to stream it. Not only are there songs on this app but podcasts can also be listened too. This app also allows covers of songs to be published and remixes. Many rappers in today’s industry come from mixtapes they dropped on this platform. I use SoundCloud daily to stream songs that aren’t on other apps. As well as remixes of some of my favorite songs.

The song ” Old Town Road” by Lil Nas blew up on SoundCloud. It increased the audience of this artist and made his name known. It allowed people from other countries to hear this song. They were also able to stream it whenever and wherever they want. Over the course of last year and the start of this year, this song was playing everywhere.

A violin/viola mute is a small rubber piece that can be attached to the bridge of a violin/viola to dampen the sound of the strings. The rubber restricts the vibration of the strings giving it a darker, lower sound. I don’t really think people use it for much else, it is rubber though so I’m sure it could be of good use in an impractical way. I used to use the mute to practice my viola at home and also whenever it was needed in music when I played in orchestra and pit band. 

In Phantom of the Opera’s, Angel of Music backstage scene in Act 1 the strings use mutes after the tremolo while Christine is singing. It says mutes on the 3rd beat of the first measure. In measure 11a it says “con sord”, which means “with mute” in Italian, this tells the musicians to put on their mutes. I believe the purpose of the mute is to make a darker and somber sound especially with this being a moment with Christine and the Phantom it’s meant to be a quiet and connecting scene. This adds mystery and emotion to the scene.

The musical technology I will be selecting is the piano, a large musical instrument that is played with 88 keys: 36 black and 52 white. There are different variations such as a grand piano and electric piano, with spin-off versions like the melodica.

The piano was created to provide a keyboard that could play both soft and loud, sustain notes, and do all this with the given set of keys. The way it’s created, there is a pedal that allows you to sustain the music or change the dynamics when it is pressed. My fastest reaction to the question “in a way it wasn’t designed for” is a comedic use of dropping the piano on top of something or someone in shows and such. I used to play the piano slightly, but school causes depression so I got lazy. It is, however, a wonderful instrument!

Although it was a simple piece, I chose Nocturnal Waltz– Johannes Bornlöf because it only uses the piano throughout the music and the use of the piano allowed the piece to flow because it sustained notes to overlap and left a consistent hum.

The piece of musical technology I chose was the instrument, the drums. The drums are an important instrument used in many different musical pieces and songs. The purpose of the drum is to give the musical piece rhythm. More specifically, drums give a beat for the piece to follow. By having the drum sounding in the background, it is easier for the listener to follow and listen with ease. The drum achieves this purpose because of its unique sound. The drum is a banging type of sound which is really exactly what a beat is. There are very clear notes when using drums. The drums can be played fast or slow but every beat is significant. It really helps the song flow when there is a clear beat.

Most people do not use drums in a way that it wasn’t designed for. The only thing that comes to mind is the possible risks and harm of drumming. Some people don’t take the appropriate and correct precaution when drumming which can cause hearing loss or other issues in the ear. Drummers tend to play loudly which can be too loud for the ear to handle. Earplugs are an easy fix to that issue. I do not have any experience with the drums other than hearing than at shows or in songs I listen to. I never played the drums but love listening to sounds with drums in it.

The piece of music I chose was “Counting Stars’” by One Republic. When I thought about drums, this song came straight to my head.  This song has a great beat with the drums in the background. Even though there are other instruments being used in the song, the drum in the background helps the listener follow the song. The drums also give a nice beat which makes the song pleasing and catchy. Drums have been a great addition to music. 

https://open.spotify.com/search/counting%20st

Hi everyone! I mistakenly mentioned in class that there is a blog due this weekend. In fact, Blog 3 is not scheduled for this weekend. Like I wrote in my previous update post, the prompt for our next blog will be posted on Wednesday March 4 with a due date of Sunday March 8.

Apologies for the confusion and best of luck with your topic proposals!

I am going to write about Kyrie (monophonic) and Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass. Monophony is a simple texture of music usually sung by one singer without any accompaniment and in Kyrie monophony had some similarities of monophony and it’s rhythm is going loud to soft (L<S) and there is no strong evidence of using any musical instrument either. The second one is a combination of harmony and other musical texture, it is similar to church music and different instrument has been used in this music. 

Because of our canceled classes, there will be no blog due for this weekend (2/23). Instead, take this time to review for our upcoming quiz on Wednesday February 26 or begin researching a topic for the Music and… Playlist.

The prompt for our next blog will be posted on Wednesday March 4 with a due date of Sunday March 8.

The two musical pieces I chose were Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass and Alapana from “Sitar, Sarode, and Tabla.” In Alapana, one of the musical elements that was present was harmony. Harmony is “the sounding of two or more pitches at the same time” and in this song, you can tell there are multiple different instruments being played at the same time. In this piece, there is also timbre, which is the the particular sound of an instrument that makes it unique. The sound of the instruments in the background made the song I also believe this piece is biphony, two separate lines consisting of a melody and a drone.

In Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass, the harmony was very consonant, it sounded very smooth and pleasing although there were multiple different singers. In kyrie, there is also texture being presented, which is the ways in which different musical parts fit together. I believe this song is heterophony, as there are multiple different voices singing at the same time, which makes the song sound very beautiful. This song also had an example of dynamics, there were certain parts of the song that both crescendo and decrescendo

The two musical pieces that I am choosing are Kyrie (monophonic); and Kyrie from the Pope Marcellus Mass. Before playing these songs I had no expectations tied to Kyrie (monophonic) however, with the second one the word “mass” suggested to me that it would include monks. When listening to these two compositions three musical elements stood out to me. Melody, harmony and texture (monophony)

Melody is a unit of pitches sounded in succession, in a simpler ways this means it is different levels of sound following each other. In Kyrie (monophonic) you can hear the different voices singing one line of music which brings us to texture. Texture is the way different musical parts fit together in this case its Monophony which is a single musical line without an accompaniment. Lastly, harmony is presented in this piece. Harmony is The sounding of two or  more pitches at the same time. Once the song starts you can hear people of different pitches singing along although, not every singer is singing in the same pitch you can hear them categorized together.

Similarly, when listening to Kyrie from the Pope of Marcellus Mass these three elements were persistent. With this composition harmony is evident with the high and low voices singing together. As well as these singers with different pitches being grouped up and following one another and lastly, it wasn’t accompanied by any musical instruments because at that time this music was wildly listened in the Church and instrumental music wasn’t accepted.

I listened to Missa IX (Cum Jubilo) and Gloria – Missa Papae Marcelli – Palestrina and used Texture, Harmony, and Rhythm to form a connection between the two pieces.

Harmony is the sound of two or more pitches at the same time, Texture is the ways the musical parts connect with each other, and Rhythm is how long the pitches last for.

In terms of Texture, Missa IX (Cum Jubilo) is a monophony because it is a single independent voice with a harmonic beat behind him. In Gloria – Missa Papae Marcelli – Palestrina, it is a polyphony because it is a mass with different independent lines singing different volumes of pitches which relates to Harmony because with multiple connections of pitches it can create a consonant which sounds pleasing because the pitches aren’t far apart. In the first song, it is a single pitch, however, there is a consistent humming in the background as well as an echo within his voice which mixes well with each other to form a consonant. The humming can relate to the beat of the song, which is part of Rhythm. In the first song, the tempo is consistent throughout, but in the second song, it changes every other second with added pauses in the middle.

When I listened to the songs, I just focused on one sound throughout and repeated it with each voice when I replayed it. I would check off the elements that were included as well and focused on that one element and see how it would connect to the song and repeated it with other parts.